Pastor Maldonado did a 1:22.391 on super soft tires in a three lap stint. Now we know Pastor is no world beater and as i have been saying all along its not the car which is going to be a limiting factor rather their pay drivers this season for Williams. Now i know it is hypothetical but say an Adrian Sutil would have been comfortably quicker than Maldonado by nearly half a second which would drop the time in to 1:21's . Now that is an extremely competitve time by midfield standards. This is why i said Williams will be the one of teams to surprise as i have said several times only to be let down by their drivers. People are free to disagree with me but the Williams machine this season could have been a really competitive midfield runner in the hands of a genuinely talented driver. I mean imagine Sutil and Barrichello driving this car and imagine the team would been knocking the door of top five teams. Now i know people will come out jumping on this post saying how Williams have the next Hamilton/Alonso pairing on the grid but they are free to think the way they want to. Come the end of the season this very thread will have people saying if only for the drivers Williams could have had its best season in a while.

It seems that you see only three cateogries of drivers:- One are Maldonado and Senna- Second are these, who are 0,5 secs faster than Maldonado and Senna- Third are next Hamiltons and Alonsos.

Don't know from what you have got those 0,5 secs. Maldonado proved, that even with very limited experience he was rarely near 0,5 or more secs slower than Rubens. Maybe Sutil would be a bit quicker than Maldonado overall, but I'm sure it wouldn't be 0,5 secs at average.And note that not every driver, who isn't 0,5 secs slower than Sutil or Barrichello must be the next Hamilton or Alonso!

And imagine how short of money would Williams be with Sutil and Barrichello. They would have about $50 million less budget, which is likely more than a third of the whole of it! Yeah, Williams would trash everybody with reasonable driver pairing and that budget.

Pastor Maldonado did a 1:22.391 on super soft tires in a three lap stint. Now we know Pastor is no world beater and as i have been saying all along its not the car which is going to be a limiting factor rather their pay drivers this season for Williams. Now i know it is hypothetical but say an Adrian Sutil would have been comfortably quicker than Maldonado by nearly half a second which would drop the time in to 1:21's . Now that is an extremely competitve time by midfield standards. This is why i said Williams will be the one of teams to surprise as i have said several times only to be let down by their drivers. People are free to disagree with me but the Williams machine this season could have been a really competitive midfield runner in the hands of a genuinely talented driver. I mean imagine Sutil and Barrichello driving this car and imagine the team would been knocking the door of top five teams. Now i know people will come out jumping on this post saying how Williams have the next Hamilton/Alonso pairing on the grid but they are free to think the way they want to. Come the end of the season this very thread will have people saying if only for the drivers Williams could have had its best season in a while.

So if they're slow, it will be just the drivers' fault and if they're fast, it's only because of the car. Which would then be even faster with the right drivers. That sounds reasonable.

Pastor Maldonado did a 1:22.391 on super soft tires in a three lap stint. Now we know Pastor is no world beater and as i have been saying all along its not the car which is going to be a limiting factor rather their pay drivers this season for Williams. Now i know it is hypothetical but say an Adrian Sutil would have been comfortably quicker than Maldonado by nearly half a second which would drop the time in to 1:21's . Now that is an extremely competitve time by midfield standards. This is why i said Williams will be the one of teams to surprise as i have said several times only to be let down by their drivers. People are free to disagree with me but the Williams machine this season could have been a really competitive midfield runner in the hands of a genuinely talented driver. I mean imagine Sutil and Barrichello driving this car and imagine the team would been knocking the door of top five teams. Now i know people will come out jumping on this post saying how Williams have the next Hamilton/Alonso pairing on the grid but they are free to think the way they want to. Come the end of the season this very thread will have people saying if only for the drivers Williams could have had its best season in a while.

It seems that you see only three cateogries of drivers:- One are Maldonado and Senna- Second are these, who are 0,5 secs faster than Maldonado and Senna- Third are next Hamiltons and Alonsos.

Don't know from what you have got those 0,5 secs. Maldonado proved, that even with very limited experience he was rarely near 0,5 or more secs slower than Rubens. Maybe Sutil would be a bit quicker than Maldonado overall, but I'm sure it wouldn't be 0,5 secs at average.And note that not every driver, who isn't 0,5 secs slower than Sutil or Barrichello must be the next Hamilton or Alonso!

And imagine how short of money would Williams be with Sutil and Barrichello. They would have about $50 million less budget, which is likely more than a third of the whole of it! Yeah, Williams would trash everybody with reasonable driver pairing and that budget.

Mate i have always maintained its teams like Mclaren Ferrari and Williams which are part of the great legacy of formula 1. I don't know it pains me when i see where they are now compared to where they were in their hay days. Any genuine f1 fan would be rooting for Williams to do well cos it has always been a proper sporting outfit . Now for me i am genuinely excited this year that finally their car is not a dud to begin with and in competitive hands they would have fared much better.

On full tanks 1.5 slower than the Red Bull and a full second off the Mercedes.

I'm not sure it's quite 1s but it's definitely the better part of a second.

I wonder who would think Rubens is half a second faster than Pastor after last season.News flash, Maldonado was the only guy who managed to put a Williams in Q3 last year (3 times).I wonder what Rubens was doing????

I'm not daft enough to believe that just because they're not turning up now they'll change their spots when the racing starts.We read every year how good their car performs pre-season.....then no-where.

I wonder who would think Rubens is half a second faster than Pastor after last season.News flash, Maldonado was the only guy who managed to put a Williams in Q3 last year (3 times).I wonder what Rubens was doing????

I thought Pastor had outqualified Rubens. It must have been close. Which means he's also pretty much even-steven with Jenson... and Lewis! And .3 up on Hulkenberg. In a few words, if you're not a Brit, Germ or Finn you're a pay driver. That's the rationale. It's called perception. Give the guy a break, it's not like his CV is anywhere as good as Sam Bird's or that of a racing god like Anthony Davidson or Alan Mcnish, but he's a nice guy.

You said no one had done a three lap run on super softs yet. You were proved wrong.

Now that is the end of that story.

Edit: why does Hulk 'piss' over Pastor? Pastor got closer to Rubens than the Hulk did, he won GP2, just like Hulk did.

As far as I can see Pastor is better...

Why do you think Force India Chose Hulk over Sutil who is a very good driver in his own right. Now i rate Sutil very highly and if Hulk has been chosen by force india for non commercial reason doesn't it say something.

Edit : Let me tell you something as a package of driver plus Car Force India looks faster and you will know in Melbourne when Force India comfortably qualifies ahead of Willliams . As i have said its more to with the driver pairing and less to do with the car itself. No doubt Force India is faster but not as much as the difference will show in Melbourne . Di Resta and Hulk >>> Senna and Pastor. Wanna believe it if you want to and feel free to disagree.

There's really no point in laying your arms in a cross saying the sub 23sec laps from Williams, Force India and Sauber, isn't necessarily a Q-sim. Come on, they were, and any difference in fuel level on those runs must've been minimal. Williams has now shown competitive pace in a Q-sim, and what I'd call encouraging pace in the first stint of a race sim. I think the first stint is the most telling to draw conclusions from, though one has to take tyre compounds into account.

Why do you think Force India Chose Hulk over Sutil who is a very good driver in his own right. Now i rate Sutil very highly and if Hulk has been chosen by force india for non commercial reason doesn't it say something.

Edit : Let me tell you something as a package of driver plus Car Force India looks faster and you will know in Melbourne when Force India comfortably qualifies ahead of Willliams . As i have said its more to with the driver pairing and less to do with the car itself. No doubt Force India is faster but not as much as the difference will show in Melbourne . Di Resta and Hulk >>> Senna and Pastor. Wanna believe it if you want to and feel free to disagree.

Why do you think Force India Chose Hulk over Sutil who is a very good driver in his own right. Now i rate Sutil very highly and if Hulk has been chosen by force india for non commercial reason doesn't it say something.

Edit : Let me tell you something as a package of driver plus Car Force India looks faster and you will know in Melbourne when Force India comfortably qualifies ahead of Willliams . As i have said its more to with the driver pairing and less to do with the car itself. No doubt Force India is faster but not as much as the difference will show in Melbourne . Di Resta and Hulk >>> Senna and Pastor. Wanna believe it if you want to and feel free to disagree.

Some of this back and forth is a bit silly. Pastor is obviously quick. A top driver, perhaps not, but at least the equal of Rubens on pace. Certainly F1 quality. Senna, I'm not so sure.

Alright, my more considered analysis of a promising day.

Low fuel run puts Williams in amongst the pigeons. Not RB maybe, but enough to challenge for Q3, based on what we've seen (with Pastor, anyway).

Got a hint about higher fuel today, as a couple of teams did race sims, and Williams did what look like high fuel runs. Obviously, we don't have full tire compound detail, but Pastor did 3 10-lap runs on high fuel - likely looking at different compounds. On all the runs, lap 7 was in the 1.31.7 range and went up from there, so I'm going to use that for a base. How does that compare to the first stints of RB, Mac, and Merc?

RB - lap 7 (and around there) was about 1.30.2

Mac - lap 7 came in about 131 flat

Merc - around the 131 flat, but a quicker drop-off (which also appeared in a Williams run)

Very preliminary conclusions.

In race trim, Williams 1.5 behind RB, .7 seconds behind Mac and Merc. Which isn't horrible at all at this point in testing.

Force India look a bit ominous. Their runs, if on high fuel, put them level with RB. Sauber's last run was also impressive, if a high fuel run. In that range as well. Ferrari with no high fuel runs, but an 8 lapper with a last lap of 125.5 is damn impressive.

We are so privileged to have technically acclaimed posters like you. Without you this forum would not have survived. You can follow your friend through the door which i just posted is on the right side ;) . This forum is not for genuine top quality, technically gifted outstanding posters like you . You are better off at a place where people give you your due for your outstanding technical acumen.

sorry fellas Friday night here in Melbourne, am i seeing what i am seeing, would this be one of the most reliable cars I have ever seem in testing, no issues and pumping out the laps, and half decent times too boot. Amazing progress from a team that was so lost and confused at the end of last year